I want to first start off by congratulating Drew on yet another incredible run. A tie in the semis was all that kept him from winning it all last year. He's made the final four in 4 straight seasons. It seemed this year his team was peaking at the right time only for them to come up lame in week 17. Bad luck but doesn't take anything away from Drew's 4 year run. It's likely the best 4 year run we have ever seen. Thank you for raising the bar of excellence.
Second, I want to acknowledge the greatness that is my Muddog Brother. He's been through so much adversity in our leagues history. 2nd most points against all time. Tons of insane bad beats, but the guy keeps putting together amazing teams year after year. Last year he fell just short due to a plethora of ridiculous individual scenarios in the championship. This year he broke the league scoring record becoming the first member to ever break 1600 points. Won the regular season and looked primed to win it all. He's had the best team in the league 2 years in a row. Tyler keep on being the ultimate Muddog year after year. The Championship is coming.
The year was 2012. I had dropped out of school and was working 2 dead end jobs at the airport making $10 an hour. Was I a loser ? No sir. I was a back to back defending PWS Champ with one thing on my mind. THREE PEAT! I wanted to go from BOSS ASS straight to living legend status by winning the greatest fantasy football league to ever exist for a 3rd straight year. How could I not ? Since changing my franchise name to THE BOSS ASSES I hadn't lost a season yet. The success made me soft. I went into that 2012 season more arrogant than when I play pop-a-shot against drunk chics at McIntyres for drinks. I felt I was playing with "house money" so I devised a plan to build the greatest upside roster the league had ever seen while drafting "my guys" at the same time. I had my first 7 draft picks determined before the draft even began. I was so confident I'd get those 7 players that I even bought their jerseys. Darren McFadden, Michael Vick, Percy Harvin, Dez Bryant, Doug Martin, Pierre Garcon and Denarius Moore. McFadden round 1 came with heavy risk, but I knew if he stayed healthy he had a strong chance to be the RB1. Vick had an ADP outside the top 25 picks, but I knew he'd never make it back to me in round 3 so if I wanted him it had to be round 2. His upside was far too alluring to pass on. Yet another I said as long as he stays healthy he is likely the QB1. Then came Harvin. The Deebo Samuel before it was cool. All the electric talent had to do was stay healthy and he was a slam dunk top 10 WR. Landing a boss ass like Dez in round 4 was a no brainer. Round 5 is where it got interesting for me. I knew Doug Martin had no business going that late, but I thought I was so far ahead of the curve as we were still in the magazine era of data that I could flat out rob the league of the next great RB. Garcon was the hot FA acquisition getting the number 1 WR role in a Shanahan offense. Must draft. Then there was the WR who had my heart. Denarius Moore. I had just won a title thanks in part to his brilliant 2nd half. He was young and his talent was most certainly worthy of the boss ass name. So how could this perfectly devised plan go array? A series of unfortunate events.
1. Adrian Peterson had torn his ACL late the previous season and every fantasy analyst and their mother had him on their don't draft list. His early ADP was as low as the 3rd round. I was so taken back by this that I wrote an article stating if you passed on AP at the end of round 1 you would regret it. Thanks to the nature of our league when it came time to draft I never thought he'd be available at my round 2 pick. As fate would have it... he was. Instead of calling an audible to my carefully thought out plan and selecting the player I had the highest on my board I stuck to my original plan and took Vick.
2. Well folks McFadden Vick Harvin and Garcon would all die. (If you clicked the link yes Garcon died on that play. He broke his foot on the first play of the season which happened to be an 88 yard TD) Those injuries left me with a core of just Doug Martin and Dez Bryant. Did I have the highest of expectations for them ? Yes. Did I panic and trade them anyways ? Also yes. Dez would go en fuego rest of season and Doug Martin proceeded to have a legendary 2nd half starting with a 272 total yard 4 TD effort the first game after I traded him.
I was cursed. Cursed by my own self. All starting with passing up Adrian Peterson. Oh in case you guys forgot he rushed for over 2k yards that season.
As the years went on I suffered many painful defeats. Years of unfortunate points against totals and countless injuries to key players. I worked tirelessly to get back on top. Putting together what I thought were some of the best rosters in league history only to continue to be banished to the shadow realm time after time. It wasn't until last season that I realized a sad truth. That the era of THE BOSS ASSES was over. I had to retire that franchise once and for all and move forward. Put the demons of the past behind. Like Kylo Ren says let the past die.
The curse started by passing up a great Viking. So as I looked for hope in chasing this ever elusive 3rd title what better way to fight for it than with a young Viking? Justin Jefferson no matter what. That's all I knew to be certain heading into the 2022 draft. I started my prep in early May this year. At that time 2 RBs stood out to me. Travis Etienne and D'Andre Swift. Don't believe me? It's true. Both dynamic playmakers with vibes of CJ Spiller and Jamaal Charles of old. As the summer weighed on I began to cool on both. I wanted more of a Zero RB approach and reports of James Robinsons good health were alarming. So I told myself I'd only draft them if I thought they were major draft day values and if I didn't end up with them I'd look for an opportunity to potentially buy low during the year. As for Josh Allen. I felt we had unfinished business and he seemed like the perfect compliment to Jefferson. Both with a rare combo of high floor and high upside. As for the rest of my roster construction I wanted it be very WR heavy. So much so that landing Gabe Davis would mean he was my WR4 despite his top 24 WR adp. Then shot gun RBs later with the plan to deal some of my wrs for hand picked RBs later in the season if I failed to hit on said shot gun RBs. As the year went on I had a constant reminder of Etienne and Swift. I drive past a building weekly with the initials E T N on it and the neighborhood gas station... yep ... you guessed it. It's name is SWIFT. I thought so many times about putting a package together for swift, but never could come up with something that made sense. Then I had reconstructed my roster in a couple late season trades to the point I was done trading. My mind was made up that I had all I needed for a title run, until one day Dylan sent me an offer. That offer contained swift. I was conflicted at first since I had already told myself I was done trading and my roster was championship ready, but scared money don't make money and something told me I needed Swift. Flash forward to Saturday Night NYE. When I came home and gave my roster the blank stare that sometimes lasts for hours I was at peace. Had Swifts situation changed since I traded for him ? No. In fact it was just as muddied as ever. After losing JT I had only Etienne and Swift. So where was this sense of peace coming from ? Destiny. Something told me they would both score 20+. Something told me there was a reason they were the 2 RBs that stood out to me in May. Something told me I see their names on a daily basis in the real world for a reason. They were going to bring it home.
2 years ago I made it to the finals with Josh Allen playing on MNF and I lost. I could have never imagined how MNF would play out this year. I'm glad Damar is recovering. At the end of all the horror and the drama This year Josh Allen rewrote history for me with only 1 drive to do it. 10 years ago I said not to pass on AP and I did. He went on to have a 2k yard season. This year I said Justin Jefferson no matter what and he rewrote my history chasing a 2k yard season of his own. He wasn't the reason why I finally broke through and claimed my 3rd title in week 17, but he sure was the reason I got that far to begin with. Funny how everything came full circle. It's also a little ironic the curse of Adrian Peterson would break the first year he failed to play in the league since. Yes, I do believe this was destiny.
Thank you to everyone who rooted for me and Supported me along the way.
Can't wait for my pretenders dinner with George ! #StillaFraudulentPretender
Ps ALL BOSS ASS ALL THE TIME
